More than one in ten young people in Sweden are marginalised and childhood obesity affects one in five. The Swedish Crown Princess Couple's Foundation works to tackle these problems through proactive projects and support.

The foundation, set up by Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel, seeks to combat social exclusion and promote good health among children and young people in Sweden.

Early action is also the best way to counter excessive weight and obesity in children and young people – a health hazard that can lead to health problems during adulthood.

Marginalisation is a widespread social problem estimated to affect 1 million Swedes. It can frequently be traced to poor performance at school but it can be addressed through timely intervention and preventive measures.

The foundation supports a variety of projects in this field, ranging from mental training to raise youngsters' self-esteem to physical education initiatives and homework assistance and mentoring.

One initiative, Maskrosbarn, is Sweden's largest organisation for young people who grow up with parents suffering from drug dependency or psychiatric illness.

It works to help young people overcome the challenges of their upbringing and experience a full adulthood with meaningful relationships and employment.

The foundation also supports Star for Life Sweden, an organisation that tackles issues such as marginalisation, self-harm, mental health problems, criminality, violence, abuse and underperformance at school.

Star for Life uses tried and tested techniques developed by its international section in southern Africa to build young people's self-worth and drive.